Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1887-06-08

Old Nuremberg, Germany, can no
longer be called 1.-THE toy house of the
world. y There are some six or seven
manufactories of tin toys in the United
! States at the present time, and of these
is the toy shop of MIR. Thomass in Scher-
merhorn street, where every conceivable
shaped invention for the amusement OF
children is fashioned from tin. "A circus
is hardly more attractive than the show
in the salesrooms OF the manGfactory,
where elephants and horses, camels and
| sheep, gymnasts, etc, are in close con-
tiguity with velocipedes, walking dolls,
merry go rounds, menagerie wagons etc;
in short, hundreds of curious tin toys in
endless variety. Mr.. TLomass learned his
| trade in Germany, and, rs necessary part
of it, he is an artist.
''Of course, said he, in showing port
folio of very clever drawings, "the first
thing inmy business is to make the design
of the toy TO be manufactured. Here, for
instance, is the drawing of horse; the
outlines are cut in card board, and from
| this the stencil is made in metal which is
laid on the tin, and by one slip of a press
| is cut into shape.n
| On the second floor the workmen were
busy cutting the material into shape with
machines that looked almost human.
Here was a squaring machine, here O
cutting machine here one for rounding
! the tin, another for bulging it, and so on,
with dozen or more facilities and meth
DDS for such processes.
"Do you make tin swords2 / saw them
manufactured in Nuremberg last year,
and the manipulation of tin in this direc-
tion was most curious and interesting
''No, we do not make the swords or the
4
| turers over there make enough to supply
the worlds demand. We cannot compete
with them in certain styles of toys, but
we export Others in large quantities, and
the demand is growing. Each toy you
see here must pass through many hands
before it is perfected. You saw the draw
| ing of the horse. Well two shapes must
be cut from the metal Then the contours
must be rounded out by another work
man, and the two parts are soldered to-
! gether exactly. A platform with little
| wheels must be made to place the horse
on, but first the horse must be painted.
| Several large vats of different colored
paints are ready to dip the toys in when
necessary. 1t takes but moment for the
workman to immerse the horse in the
liquid, when, with many other toys in the
same degree of finish, it is carried to
drying room on crate and placed on a
shelf TO dry. Later it is given TO facial
artist for the coloring of the eyes, nostrils,
name and tail; still another workman
| fastens the horse to the platform and bell
on its back or perchance a jockey. The
| toy is now complete and ready for pack
| ing A pretty toy is the boy and butter
| fly with chime of bells The boy stands
on platform with stick in his hands.
Before him is a butterfly poised over
bell. The toy is wound up and runs about
the floor as the boy touches the butterfly
with his stick, when the chimes ring mer-
| rily."
(Which toys are most in demandg'
''Oh, the bell toys anything that will
make a noise. We have patent dogs that
ring beEs, sail boats with a sailor and
chime of bells, picnic party on plat
] form ringing chime bells, galloping ele-
/ phant with chime bells, goats, camels,
and, most comical of ALL Mary and her
| little lamb with chime bells.''
A live boys heart would be delighted
with the wonderful mechanical toys-the
| twenty-one inch steamboat that moved as
though propelled by steam, and the loco
motives and buggies, the steam fire en-
| gines with the horses and firemen COM
plete, the railroad trains, the city street
cars, elevated railways with cars and en-
| gine that move on them, the carrousel
with horses and riders, footmen and
| chariots, all rushing at the greatest speed
| in a ring or circle, where flags are flying
The merry go around has central figure
| which turns crank that moves the horses
and other figures in the circle. One of the
most attractive toys is Santa Claus, with
an evergreen bush in his hands, sitting in
a sleigh drawn by two goats. All these
| toys have clock movement. The exact
ness and perfection Of the toys in repre-
senting animals, human beings and
| methods of living and amusement are
wonderful.
Most of the employees are men, but
! there are several women for the finer fin
ishing of the toys. The three stories of
the factory have each its division OF labor,
with the drying room "a large, dark cham
/ Der heated by stoves at one side Of the
| third floor. Every detail of the business is
in the most perfect order There are boxes
and barrels of the half completed toys
ready for decoration and the shipping and
| clipping of tin, etc, all in routine and a
| kind of harmony in the whole movement.
Returning to the Office, Mr.. Thomass
| suddenly wound up q walking doll and
set it on the floor. Together with dozen
youngsters who were present, saw this
chubby doll walk very rapidly across the
room pushing a miniature wagon. Then
he opened large square paper box and
revealed some charming toys already
packed for expectation, but kindly taking
them out there was first locomotive,
named Hercules, with a tender; two rail-
way passenger cars, with baggage car
on, having .sU. S. Mail Route painted
on the outside A fire engine was on the
table, with hose ATTACHED, which throws a
stream Of water across the street. And
there was milk wagon, with four per-
feet little milk cans so fashioned that it is
almost impossible to destroy them, each
holding as much as a small wine glass
Brooklyn Eagle.
It has oecn observed that banqueting is